New Release Tuesday: YA New Releases April 21st 2026

Young Adult New Releases April 21st 2026

Where has April gone?! Anyways today we are celebrating most of today’s YA New Releases. We hope you check out our indie bookseller affiliates Bookshop or Libro.fm – if you plan to purchase & all sales help indie bookstores!

Gods & Comics

by Kat Cho
Published by: Nancy Paulsen Books
on April 21, 2026
Genres: Contemporary, Fantasy, Young Adult
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New York Times bestseller Kat Cho returns with a fresh contemporary, fantasy romance about a teen whose life is upended when the gods in her anonymous viral web comic inspired by a forgotten Korean myth come to life and the hero falls in love with her.

Seventeen-year-old junior class vice president Grace Bak has her entire future all mapped out with plans to become a doctor like her parents. But the weight of Grace’s own daunting expectations leads to debilitating panic attacks that have made her a virtual outcast at school, even to her longtime friend and crush. To make matters worse, her grandmother and only real support system has just died. Halmeoni was the glue that kept Grace’s little family together, especially after she and her dad lost her mother to cancer when Grace was too little to have many memories of her. To cope with the grief of another loss, Grace starts a webcomic inspired by the Korean myths her halmeoni used to tell her as a child.

In Sun God, Grace spins the tale of Korean god Haemosu and his love Yuhwa, but with a twist—the two gods are trapped in the bodies of teenagers and, worst of all, cursed to attend high school. Grace never expected her comic to go viral, but it has, and the new fandom has somehow conjured the real Haemosu. Now it’s up to Grace to get him back home. But when she starts to fall for Hae, sending him home is the last thing she wants to do. More troubling, Hae isn’t the only god to suddenly reappear. Hae’s sworn enemy—also brought back to the mortal realm by Grace’s comic—is set on destroying Hae, all while infecting humanity with a deadly disease.

As an epic battle between gods looms, Hae is without his powers, so it may fall to Grace to fight back against a vengeful god hell-bent on punishing anyone who gets in his way.

The Labyrinth of Waking Dreams

by Michelle Kulwicki
Published by: Page Street YA
on April 21, 2026
Genres: Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Young Adult
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In this adventure-packed portal fantasy, three teens discover a gateway to a mythical Labyrinth in the Appalachian Mountains

Barren’s Peak, West Virginia, is not a place anyone would call magical, but Thea LaGuerre calls it home. A high school drop-out whose mother died in an accident, Thea is stuck working part-time jobs just to make ends meet. The most she has to look forward to are barn parties where she can make out with Callum, the one interesting boy who moved to town six months ago.

Thea doesn’t know it yet, but Callum was sent to Barren’s Peak to watch her. He was raised within the magicians’ order, a shadowy organization meant to keep humanity safe from an underworld of monsters. Callum would sacrifice anyone, including himself, to help their cause, but he still can’t help falling into Thea’s orbit. She’s the first person he’s felt seen by since his childhood sweetheart, Oliver—who he hasn’t seen since Oliver’s banishment from the order.

But Oliver hasn’t given up on Callum or on magic. Following a magical creature’s trail to Barren’s Peak, Oliver happens upon Callum and Thea at a barn party that turns into a monster-overrun massacre. To save Callum and the girl he’s protecting from a wave of deadly fairies, Oliver opens a portal for the three of them to flee into the Labyrinth.

To get home again, Thea, Oliver, and Callum will have to work together to survive the Labyrinth’s trials and discover the threads that brought them there.

Morbid Curiosities

by S. Hati
Published by: Feiwel and Friends
on April 21, 2026
Genres: Sci-Fi, Young Adult
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An ambitious teen enrolls at an elite science institute in Morbid Curiosities, a young adult thriller from author S. Hati.

When the Institute’s invitation arrived at my doorstep, it felt like it had been inked in my blood, sweat, and tears.

Aarya’s life plan has been set for as long as she can remember: finish high school with a bang, attend the best college she can get into, then land a prestigious biology research job. Her ticket to this dream is a one-year program at the Elizabethan Institute, the preeminent organization for life sciences in the United States, currently on the cusp of revealing a major project that could transform the worlds of biology and medicine.

But as Aarya tries to settle in to a school with sky-high academic expectations and research cloaked in mystery, it becomes clear that someone doesn’t want her there. As the scholarship student surrounded by rich, cutthroat peers who seem all too willing to torment her, she never expected to make friends, but the notes warning her to run rattle her to her core. She finds an ally in Sofia, a mysterious girl who claims to be the subject of closed-door experiments at the Institute and begs for Aarya’s help in figuring out what the Institute is really working on.

As rumors of mutated flora and fauna in the nearby city circulate and a murder investigation rocks the Institute, Aarya will have to navigate Sofia’s growing paranoia and her own increasingly unreliable memory to determine which classmates she can trust―and which would rather see her dead.

May the Dead Keep You

by Jill Baguchinsky
on April 21, 2026
Genres: Horror, Young Adult
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Perfect for fans of Don't Let the Forest In and Wuthering Heights, this gothic horror novel is about the pasts that haunt us and the stories we decide to make for ourselves.

There's nowhere Catie East would rather be than the redwood forest that surrounds her family's unusual historic home, the Heights.

She prefers being alone in the forest. People are ... complicated. But when a scientist and his son move into the estate's cottage, planning to study the woods around them, the boy catches Catie's eye. And when a dead woodpecker miraculously comes back to life in his precious hands ... he captures her heart.

Necromancy isn't the only strange thing happening in the Heights.

There's an unfamiliar face in the mirror. Blood on the floors. Eyes in the wallpaper. And the men around her--including her once-sweet nature boy--are becoming something else. Something possessive and frightening. Something violent.

As the Heights's dark history starts to come to light, Catie discovers that the home she loves is imbued with pain. And even though the pain isn't her own, it will corrupt her and the people around her all the same--unless she can stop it.

A story about breaking cycles of abuse and overcoming generational trauma, May the Dead Keep You is an edge-of-your-seat read--equally horrifying, heart-wrenching, and hopeful.

Flirting with Murder

by Amanda Sellet
Published by: Wednesday Books
on April 21, 2026
Genres: Contemporary, Mystery, Thriller, Young Adult
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The Agathas meets Thursday Murder Club in Amanda Sellet’s next YA novel, a cozy mystery with a splash of romance.

Some people visit Florida for theme parks and beaches. High school junior Virginia Tillis is there for murder. Accidents, electrocution, tainted hand lotion: every victim meets a different end at her grandmother Lainey’s rococo pink condo. Such is life (and death) when you roll with a crew of theater retirees who roleplay murder mysteries from the comfort of their own home in a game they fondly call Killing Me Softly.

But this summer, fictional murder has given way to the very real death of the building's beloved owner and his dramatic last testament has the vultures circling, from estranged relatives to sleazy property developers, dead set on getting the most from his will.

Adding to the tension for Virginia is the appearance of Felix, the cute guy she met at the airport who turns out to be the grandson of one of the condo’s residents. With his charm and musical theater chops, he’s the person Virginia most wants to beat at Killing Me Softly. That is, until the day they discover an actual dead body while playing the game, forcing them to work together to figure out whodunit.

In this comedic mystery about finding the Watson to your Holmes, Virginia and Felix must banter their way from rivals to co-detectives in time to save their eccentric grandparents from a shocking disruption to the community they've always loved.

Someday Perfect: (A Graphic Novel)

by Kat Schneider
Published by: Random House Graphic
on April 21, 2026
Genres: Graphic Novel, Young Adult
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In this beautiful graphic novel, a teen is tested when she falls for another camper at a Christian sleepaway camp, sparking feelings she was taught to suppress. As she grapples with the rigid expectations of her faith, she embarks on a journey of self-discovery that challenges her deepest beliefs.

Summer camp is supposed to be a place to find yourself, but when you're sent to a Christian sleepaway camp, that can be hard to do. Hemmed in by how she presents herself at school, and the expectations of her pastor father, Meg finds it hard to know just how she feels about herself... let alone how others feel about her.

When Meg runs into Danny, a soft and charming boy who also comes to the camp every summer, her feelings start to flourish. Unfortunately, with these feelings come questions. How is she supposed to fulfill the role she is supposed to play when her heart and her faith are both questioning?

This gorgeously illustrated graphic novel speaks to complexity of faith, while also exploring the power of first loves and the complicated feelings they can bring.

The Blind Date Agreement

by Jessica Cunsolo
Published by: Wattpad Books
on April 21, 2026
Genres: Contemporary Romance, Young Adult
Bookshop
Goodreads

Carina’s fifth wheel status is making things awkward, so she agrees to let her two best friends set her up on a series of blind dates—each worse than the one before…

This laugh-out-loud, YA contemporary rom-com comes laced with a dose of high school friendship drama perfect for fans of authors like Emma Lord and shows like Never Have I Ever.

Carina has zero issues with being single—even though her best friends, Emi and Kalani, are coupled up. She’s got more than enough to keep her busy between schoolwork, her part-time job at her family’s bakery, and her art. Besides, Carina adores Emi’s partner, Daphne, they always make her feel included and not like a third wheel. Kalani’s another story—being around her and her boyfriend is complicated. That’s why Kalani takes matters into her own hands and arranges a series of blind dates for Carina.

There’s just one Carina doesn’t want to go. Being single isn’t the problem. The fact that she’s in love with Kalani’s boyfriend, Emmett, is and no amount of distraction can fix that. But with prom on the horizon, the idea of being a fifth, seventh, or eleventh wheel weighs heavily on Carina’s mind. So, she agrees.

And it’s a complete disaster. And every date is worse than the one before. Except for one, pink-short-wearing Jay, who pushes Carina in ways she never expected. Soon she finds herself in a complicated battle between friendship and romance, and she must decide which form of love matters most to her—and which one will surprise her.

Until We Meet Again: A Graphic Novel

by Lily Kim Qian
Published by: First Second
on April 21, 2026
Genres: Contemporary, Graphic Novel, Young Adult
Bookshop
Goodreads

A poignant and vividly illustrated graphic memoir about a young woman's search for belonging as her immigrant family moves between Canada and China.

Lily isn't sure where home is anymore. Her family is constantly on the move, resettling in different towns across Canada and, eventually, in Shanghai, China. Her father plays the role of primary caregiver while her mother is absent for long periods of time. When she reappears, her strange behavior turns Lily's life upside down. As Lily enters her college years, she strives to better understand her family and her place in the world. But can she escape the inherited trauma passed down by her immigrant parents?